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Trump’s Budget Takes A Knife To United Nations Funding

The Trump administration’s new budget may cut nearly a billion dollars from United Nations peacekeeping operations, Foreign Policy reports.

The U.N. peacekeeping budget was nearly $8 billion in 2016, making the cut a major blow to the organization. The U.S. will also cut some funding of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund and the United Nations Development Program.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley will lay out of the case for the cuts, saying U.N. Security Council members must “consider whether current peacekeeping operations continue to be the best-suited mechanisms for meeting the need of those on the ground and achieving the council’s political objectives, or if changes are needed. That is, are current missions ‘still fit for purpose’?”

The specific cuts follow a request by the Trump administration to cut U.N. funding by nearly 50 percent in mid-March. The U.S. currently provides approximately $10 billion annually to the U.N. “Abrupt funding cuts can force the adoption of ad hoc measures that will undermine the impact of longer-term reform efforts,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in the wake of reported cuts.

“We’re absolutely reducing funding to the U.N. and to the various foreign aid programs, including those run by the U.N. and other agencies,” White House budget director Mick Mulvaney declared to reporters after the budgets release.

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